Century Preparation

A century, or 100 mile ride, is a big goal for many cyclists. I've
been riding recreationally since I was a teenager, and I was 28 before
I did over 100 miles in one day. Since then I've done quite a few of
them, including a double century, so I've pretty much gotten to the
point of considering a century just a long ride. So here's some advice
for people who want to do their first one.

It's all in the mind

The most important thing to completing a century is
determination. If you want to do it and think you can, you will. It
may be painful, but you'll finish. If you don't think you can do it
you'll find some excuse to drop out: a cramp in your calf, rain,
whetever. The rest of this article is all about making it hurt less,
but this is all secondary to the right attitude.

Training

To get your body ready for a century, you need to ride. This may
seem obvious, but that's really all you have to do. Once you've gotten
to the point where you can do 70 mile rides without knocking yourself
out, you're ready for the century. Of course, you have to do your
training in terrain that's at least as difficult as where you'll be
doing your century. If you find you can ride a flat 70 miles easily
and then try to do a century in the mountains, you may find is a very
unpleasant experience.

When I was doing centuries regularly, my training schedule was:
Tuesdays and Thursdays, ride 30 to 35 miles thru' hills, then a longer
ride (40 miles or more) on the weekend. Now I have a full time job and
don't spend so much time on the bike. I still aim to ride 75 miles a
week. I get 25 miles/week by commuting, do one evening ride that's 20
to 30 miles long, and then do a weekend ride of 30-50 miles or
sometimes more. I can still do centuries, but they're not as easy as
when I was riding more!

What sort of bike should you use?

In my opinion, the best bike for a century is one that fits you
very well and is comfortable for long distance riding. Lots of people
ride with their seats too high or too low, or with too long or too
short a stem, things like that. There's a variety of advice on the
web. The best in my opinion is written by Peter White and
Sheldon
Brown. If you don't feel comfortable setting up your bike with
these guides, go to a bike shop.

People often debate the pros and cons of different kinds of bike
for long-distance riding. Some people like to go fast and will ride
their racing bikes on centuries. Others just put slick tires on ther
mountain bike to give it a go. Both approaches are fine, it all
depends on what your goals are (to go really fast, or just to
finish!).

If you have a mountain bike and would like to try a century, here
are some tips. First, put slick tires on your bike. I find that 1.25"
to 1.5" tires work well for me. They're wide enough to give some
cushioning, but narrow enough to be reasonably light. Second, get some
bar ends if you don't have some already. These allow you to have a
change of hand position and let you stretch out a bit. Third, if you
can, put on some narrower handlebars. If you use your bike off-road,
you probably have quite wide bars. These are great on trails to help
you negotiate those sharp turns, but on-road they just increase your
wind resistance. This may not seem like a big thing, but the longer
the ride is, the most important it becomes. On a century, you'll be
going more or less into the wind for about 50 miles! If you reduce the
width of the bars you'll bring your hands and arms closer together and
this will reduce your wind resistance somewhat. The easiest way to do
this is cut a bit off the ends of the bars. However be cautious: you
can go too far. If your bars are too narrow, the bike responds too
quickly to small hand movements and it feels unstable. I find that
flat bars about 21" wide work for me.

What to take with you, and the ride itself

Tools are important. Always have a spare tube (or two), a patch
kit, tire levers, and a pump with you. It also helps to have Allen
wrenches with you (one for each bolt size on your bike) and a small
adjustable wrench and some screwdrivers. You don't need separate tools
for all of this: I've seen one took that combined all these things,
along with a chain tool! (Some people suggest carrying a chain tool,
but I've never needed one. I guess I'm not strong enough to break a
chain.) I have a very neat tool called a Leatherman. It has pliers
(which are useful for pulling thorns and pieces of metal out of
tires), several types of screwdriver, a file, a knife, and a can and
bottle opener.

Sunscreen is important, since you'll be out under the sun for many
hours. You'll probably sweat a fair bit, so it's a good idea to take
a little bottle with you to reapply when you're at a food stop. Also,
if you don't wear a helmet, a hat is very useful for keeping the sun
off your head.

If you are on an organized ride, try not to stop for too long,
maybe 10 or 15 minutes max. Otherwise your legs cool off, and it
really hurts when you get them going again. You need to get off every
now and then to stretch your legs, but just long enough to fill your
water bottles and go to the bathroom will be sufficient. If you're
tired, just go slower. You'll give your legs a change to rest, but
they won't cool off and you'll still be making progress towards your
goal.

When food stops aren't provided for you, you either have to bring
it all with you, or stop to buy it. If you bring it with you you can
avoid long stops by constantly snacking, but if you're buying, it can
be hard to find enough sources of food for frequent snacking. Thus if
you're doing the ride on your own or with a few other people, you may
want to stop for a big lunch. Your legs will cool off, but it can help
refresh you for the remainder of the ride ahead.

Preparing your bike and gear

Don't get lots of new parts the day before the long ride. Go over
your bike the day before, checking all the screws to make sure they're
tight. My toe clip almost fell off once due to a couple of loose
screws. The thing is that loose screws often work just fine. That is,
until they fall out. So you can't just assume that because your bike
has been working fine all this time, it'll continue to work fine on
the long ride.

Do your packing the night before. Load up your bike bags with whatever
you'll need, put your water bottles, filled, on your bike (some people
like to keep them in the fridge, but what's the use -- they'll warm up
fast enough anyway, and there's the risk that you'll forget then if
you drive to the starting point of the long ride), attach your pump,
reset your bike computer, lay your biking clothes out with sunglasses
and helmet nearby. If you're going to get a really early start, make up
your morning tea or coffee the night before, and nuke in the morning
to heat it up. Maybe it won't taste so good, but the less you have to
worry about the day of the big ride, the happier you'll be.

Now, this sounds like alot of stuff to do, but the thing is that then
you'll be very well prepared, and the your 100-miler will go
seamlessly.